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Overview

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston, Preston

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising acccount of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

Product Details

About the Author

Richard Preston is the author of several books, most recently The Cobra Event. He is a regular contribuot to The New Yorker. He has also won the AAAS-Westinghouse Award and the McDermott Award in the Arts from MIT.

Editorial Reviews

Far more infectious than AIDS, filoviruses (thread viruses) are relentless killer machines that consume a human body in days, causing a gruesome death. Symptoms include liquefying flesh, spurts of blood, black vomit and brain sludge. Outbreaks of the Ebola filovirus devasted Sudan and Zaire in 1976. And in 1989 Philippine monkeys in a Reston, Va., research lab, found to be infected with Ebola, were the target of a U.S. Army-led biohazard task force that decontaminated the lab, exterminating hundreds of monkeys to prevent the possible airborne spread of the disease to humans. In a horrifying and riveting report, portions of which appeared in the New Yorker , Preston ( American Steel ) exposes a real-life nightmare potentially as lethal as the fictive runaway germs in Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. Preston plausibly argues that the emergence of AIDS, Ebola and other highly adaptable rain-forest viruses is a consequence of ecological ruin of the tropics. A movie based on this book, directed by Ridley Scott ( Alien ), will star Robert Redford. Author tour. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Expanded from Preston's 1992 New Yorker article, this account of a lethal virus run amok is Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain come true. In the fall of 1989, imported monkeys at a Reston, Virginia, facility began dying of a mysterious illness. Was it simian hemorrhagic fever (fatal to monkeys but harmless to humans) or was it Ebola, an extremely deadly tropical virus that had devasted villages in Zaire and the Sudan in 1976? Writing in a breathless novelistic style, Preston (American Steel, LJ 4/15/91) follows a military SWAT team as they don biohazard space suits to enter the "hot zone" and contain the alien virus. While this is thrilling reading (there are plenty of gruesome descriptions of Ebola's effects on human victims), one does wonder how much Preston sensationalized events for the sake of a good story. He also only sketchily discusses the possiblity that the destruction of the rainforests are releasing unknown viruses into the human population. Still, with a forthcoming movie starring Robert Redford and Jodie Foster, there will be demand. Buy multiple copies. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/94]-Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"

Library Journal

YA-Warning-not for faint hearts or weak stomachs! In 1989, an obscure filovirus travels from the African rain forest to a lab near Washington, D.C., where the monkeys quickly sicken and die. Preston traces the history of the Warburg and Ebola filoviruses in minute, horrific detail that is as fascinating to read as it is alarming to contemplate-these filoviruses have the capability to mutate and possibly cross species. There are extraneous descriptions of scenery and of the characters' lives, but these passages serve to relieve the mounting tension and terror as the virus spreads and the CDC, the Army, and a private firm work out a containment plan to prevent a mass epidemic. YAs interested in science or fans of Stephen King or Michael Crichton will find this a fast-paced medical chiller right to the last disturbing page.-Judy Sokoll, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

One of the nation's more famous planned communities, Reston, Virginia, stands at the epicenter of this whirlwind tale of potential biological disaster. Preston, award-winning author of "First Light" (1987) and "American Steel" (1991), wrote a 1992 "New Yorker" article on the recognition and containment of a devastating tropical filovirus at a monkey house--the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit--operated by a division of Corning, Inc., about 10 miles from Washington, D.C. Preston expands on that article by describing his 1993 journey to Kitum Cave on Mount Elgon near the edge of the Rift Valley in Kenya, the place scientists believe is the source of all four identified filoviruses: the Marburg, the Sudan, the Zaire, and the Reston strains of Ebola. "The Hot Zone" is a compelling "science fact" thriller: filoviruses kill most of their monkey and human hosts in vividly gruesome ways. The process through which the U.S. Veterinary Corps at Frederick, Maryland, spotted Ebola at Reston and recruited a secret SWAT team to contain it is tense and terrifying; and Preston, who lived in Kenya for part of his youth, places this chilling incident in a broad global context, eloquently arguing that "the emergence of AIDS, Ebola, and any number of other rain-forest agents [may be] a natural consequence of the ruin of the tropical biosphere." Expect reader interest: Random House plans heavy promotion; Robert Redford and Jodie Foster are working on a motion picture based on Preston's article; and Dustin Hoffman stars in a second film on this frightening subject.

Mary Carroll

Look for a pot-boilin', splatter flick from this fictionalized medical horror story. On the filovirus out of Africa & the Philippines and its ghastly symptoms in man & monkey. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"One of the most horrifying things I've ever read. What a remarkable piece of work."Stephen King

"Popular science writing at its best and the year's most infectious page-turner."People

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I first read The Hot Zone in the mid-nineties. It reads like a medical thriller, but is non-fiction. I guess recent news about Ebola's march across West Africa stirred my memories of this book. Twenty years later its message resonates and seems more timely than ever. How often do we recall our emotional connection to a book read that long ago? The Hot Zone was the scariest book I ever read&mdash;from page one! True story. Yes, it can happen here!

armydoc

More than 1 year ago

A well laid out and well researched book thats is impossibe to lay down until you have read the entire story.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Guest

More than 1 year ago

Good book all around. Explosive from beginning to the end, though not for those weak of stomach. Very, very interesting. Loved it.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

Richard Preston a Best Selling author shows his great talent once again. In this stomach turning novel The Hot Zone. This is the book for a person who enjoys adventure, excitement and someone who is into learning about deadly, infectious viruses. This was the first book I have read by Richard Preston and it caught my eye. This book provides you with front row seats to the Ebola virus and the scary affects it can have on someone if they become infected. This virus does what Aids can do in ten years in ten days. That¿s how lethal this virus is. Nancy Jaxx is the leading lady of the level 4, the hot zone. She is one of the main characters. She is the leading sergeant in charge of finding out if a host (monkey) has the Ebola virus. The Ebola virus started deep in the rain forest. A scientist went to the rain forest to visit Kitum Cave and he later died. His cause of death was unknown. This book is slow in the beginning but gets faster in the end. Its freaky to know that something this lethal was lose in a laboratory and monkey house in Washington DC.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

Quick! Name the most deadly disease you can think of.I would bet your answer is AIDS right? Everybody is so scared of AIDS that no one could imagine it could get any worse. AIDS is a level 2 virus according to scientists. Now imagine a disease twice as deadly. Hard isn't it? If you read this book it might get a little easier to imagine. This book is not for the faint of heart. if you can watch Saving private ryan with a straight face you'll be fine. the symptoms of this disease are harsh, and Richard Preston leaves nothing out. I havn't felt this sick since I went on the Gravitron eight times.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

I read this book in about two days. I was absolutely terrified when i read this book. It was hard to imagine that such an awful thing could exist in our world. I also had a great time reading it aloud to my brother and sister. I'll tell you one thing, you definitely need a good stomach to read this book!

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